Question about countable income before submitting application

[wfrancis]

First of all - thank you for this site! What a wonderful resource and I've spent days on the internet trying to make heads and tails out of this benefit.

Here is my situation.

My 82 year old mother has just reached the stage where she needs in-home care. She was in the hospital a few weeks ago and has deterioriated rapidly since her release. She had been living alone but she can no longer take care of herself. She needs help eating, going to the bathroom and bathing herself. Her only income is social security. She has Kaiser medial and Medicare. My father was a Veteran of WWII but never had a VA pension or benefit.

My Mom is now living with my brother and sister-in-law. They work full-time so are going to hire an home-care service to visit Mom 3 days a week. This service will cost approximately $1000 per month.

But we are just putting these services in place right now so we don't have a 'history' of them yet. They are the reason we need the Aid and Assistance benefit. Is there a way I can include these costs on the VA application even though we don't have a 'history' of them yet? With the cost of in-home care, my Mom's countable income is almost zerio. Would she qualify for a pension and Aid and Assistance both?

Or should I just apply for the Aid and Assistance benefit and not worry about the in-home care costs yet?

Also, is there a special form the doctor should fill out stating that my Mom can no longer attend to her needs herself?

Thank you for any advice...

[vetadmin]

Thank you for your kind words about our efforts, and hopefully we can be of some assistance.

We recommend that you file for A&A. If for some reason she would not qualify for A&A the VA will consider the Housebound rating. Based on the information you provided, we think she would qualify for A&A.*

*Once the family commits for in-home care and knows what the monthly cost will be, they can submit the statement to the VA just like a nursing home or assisted care facility letter stating what the monthly charges will be. The VA will consider it to be an on-going medical expense and make the necessary adjustments with the income and expenses.*

Her family doctor can complete the physician form or the VA form 21-2680 form for consideration of A&A.*

Good luck!

[wfrancis]

Thank you so much!